Kinsta Kingpin: Interview with Alice Orrù

Alice Orrù is a WordPress enthusiast, active member of the WordPress community, and Content Writer at WP Rocket, a popular all-in-one premium caching plugin for WordPress with over 95k happy customers and fully compatible with Kinsta.

You can reach out to her via Twitter.

If you like interviews, please be sure to check out our Kinsta Kingpin series for more!

Q1: What is your background and how did you first get involved with WordPress?

I’m an economist with a passion for the written word and foreign languages. After my graduation and a training period in France, I moved back to Italy and, for over five years, I worked in the marketing departments of a few international companies: I wasn’t thrilled with the life I was pursuing in Milan, so in 2012 I decided that it was time for a change.

I packed my stuff and moved to Barcelona, Spain, where I started to work as an interpreter and assistant for the international patients of a fertility clinic. That experience lasted three years, after which—exhausted by the psychological burden of that job—I decided to come back to my previous love: the web.

That’s when I stumbled upon WP Media’s job offer for a multilingual support agent for their caching plugin WP Rocket.

I had been using WordPress for a few years at that time, but only for fun and for a personal blogging project. WP Rocket’s position got me curious, though, and even if I had no technical knowledge, I applied: they trusted in me, and that’s how I started making a living thanks to WordPress!

From there, getting to know the community and being fascinated by the spirit of collaboration that surrounds it was super fast. I found my place in the WordPress Italian Polyglots team and made many good friends.

Q2: What should readers know about all the stuff you’re doing in WordPress these days?

At the moment I’m doing a lot of stuff with WordPress! I’m a content writer and, after four intense years in the field of caching for WordPress, writing about web performance optimization is my thing.

At the same time, I’m an active member of the WordPress community: I’m a General Translator Editor for the Italian Polyglots team. We are the people translating everything WordPress related: themes, plugins, meta, apps, etc.

When I feel inspired and think to have a good topic, I like speaking at WordCamps. WordCamps are a fantastic opportunity to know the community from the inside, and it’s always a privilege to be listed among the speakers. If I’m not in the mood for speaking, I usually apply as a volunteer to help the organizers running a smooth event.

Since writing is my first love, I also curate a personal lifestyle blog about my life in Barcelona, and I’m in the editorial staff of “Viaggio da Sola Perché”, the first Italian multi-author blog dedicated to female solo traveling.

Q3: What challenges did you face in getting to where you are now professionally?

The major challenge I had to face so far was overcoming my impostor syndrome while working in technical support. It hasn’t been easy, but now I can say that it was worth it. Learning the behind-the-scenes of WordPress and studying to become a web performance expert was a real journey, but it made me a better professional.

Nowadays, I’d say that keeping up with all the things happening around WordPress and web performance can be challenging. But it’s also something that I embrace with curiosity and with the desire to keep improving my skills, so that’s good: I don’t like getting bored.

Q4: Has anything surprised you while coming up in the WordPress world?

I was amazed by the strength of the WordPress community. It’s a sort of microcosm, where people work together, discuss and meet up even if they never had the chance to see one another in real life. And it’s something complicated to explain to people outside the community: you don’t get it until you live it!

Q5: What does the future look like for you in the WordPress world?

I look at it with optimism. My desire is to keep contributing to the Community and grow professionally, putting content writing and software localization at the center of my career.

At the same time, I’m very interested in everything that revolves around the theme of women in tech, and I think that the WordPress Community is becoming a great example of inclusion. I plan to get more involved with this and be able to make more women approach the community.

Q6: What do you look for in a WordPress host?

In my opinion, a great host provides flexible plans and outstanding support. Having been a support agent for several years, I can’t avoid rating a company first of all for the support they offer. For a host, this is even more important, since I imagine most of the customers don’t have enough technical skills to fix eventual issues by themselves.

Q7: What do you enjoy doing when you’re away from your laptop?

Lots of stuff! Being an avid reader, I start a few books at the time: one to read after lunch, one for when I’m in public transport and one for bedtime. ?
I’m also deeply in love with Barcelona and its food scene. In my spare time, I wander around the city, preferably by bike, to discover new neighborhoods, museums, or restaurants. I think that eating out is one of the luxuries that I grant myself most frequently: trying new tastes, savoring exotic foods, or simply eating the best cakes in town!

I also like to travel alone, and I’m an ambassador of female solo traveling: I try to take some time to travel all by myself at least once per year.

Finally, I recently joined an NGO that works with refugees in Barcelona: it’s a program that aims at helping refugees to build a new life in the city, learn the language, and improve their integration in our society.

Q8: Whom should we interview next & why?

Caspar Hübinger, one of the veterans of the German WordPress community. He’s one of the people that encouraged me to apply to speak at my first WordCamp back in 2016. Caspar is a kind, smart man with very interesting opinions about the WordPress environment: definitely a person worth knowing.